Ruby Meets Yatsu
by Darkpenn
Summary: Sort of.


**Ruby Meets Yatsu**

 _Sort of._

 _[Author's note: This story takes place soon after the Beacon Academy dance.]_

Team RWBY was in the Beacon Academy gym. They were practising flips and leaps, as well as doing the strength training that underpinned Hunter fighting style. Various other teams were doing similar workouts. Everyone was wearing gym outfits – although Ruby had insisted on keeping her red cape.

Ruby lay down on a bench next to Yang, who was lifting weights – quite a lot of them.

"How do I do this?" said Ruby to her sister.

"Hold on to the bar and push up."

"Like this?"

"Well, yes, but you're supposed to put weights on the bar. Just lifting the bar itself isn't achieving much. Here, let me put some on for you." She put a weight on each end of the bar.

"Gr ... un ... unhh," said Ruby, as she pushed. "There, I did it!"

"Congratulations, sis, you just bench-pressed an amount about equal to Zwei."

"Hey, he's a heavy dog."

Yang put another weight on each end. Ruby groaned as she lifted.

"How many weights do you do?" said Ruby.

"Oh, about fifteen. On each end."

"Get away."

"Hey, there are people who do more. That guy over there, for instance, does nearly twice as much as me." She pointed at a very large fellow who was balanced, cross-legged, on the high beam of a set of parallel bars. He appeared to be meditating, eyes closed.

Ruby glanced at him.

 _Oh ..._

And she almost dropped the weight. Fortunately, Yang caught it, one-handed, before it fell on her.

"You know, maybe weights aren't your thing," said Yang. "Maybe you should try some flips. With, er, Weiss. Yeah, with Weiss."

"You're telling me to go away and bother someone else, aren't you?"

"No! Well, yes. But Weiss loves to be bothered. It makes her feel important."

"She already feels important. Anyway, it's got to be better than lifting weights. Where is she?"

Yang pointed. Weiss was on the other side of the gym. To get to her would mean passing by the big guy who was meditating.

Ah ...

So Ruby headed off towards the guy ... er, towards Weiss.

Gosh, he was a big man. Even in repose, you could see his muscles. And the gym outfit was a little on the tight side for him. Which was, really, not an entirely bad thing.

Ruby suddenly realised she had a tummy-ache. No, not an ache exactly. More of a feeling of having just drunk something hot, and now it was sitting in her stomach complaining. Actually, the feeling wasn't exactly in her stomach. It seemed a bit ... lower down.

She reached the parallel bars and looked up at him. He seemed so ... so ... so ... solid. Like a boulder. Or a really big tree. Or something.

Her tummy-ache was getting worse. Could she have pulled a muscle doing Yang's stupid weight thing? She was getting a headache, too.

She put an arm out to steady herself on the vertical support of the parallel bars. Unfortunately, she missed, and crashed to the floor. She lay there stunned.

Coco Adel leaned over her.

"Well," Coco said, offering her hand. "That was outstandingly foolish. Did you hurt yourself?"

"No, I'm used to it, I fall down all the time." It occurred to Ruby that that might have not been the most clever thing to say. She took Coco's hand. With surprising strength, Coco pulled her to her feet.

Coco was holding a practice baton. Suddenly, she looked up at the big guy and said: "Hey, Yatsu!" She threw the baton at him.

He put a hand out and caught it. Without opening his eyes, apparently.

Coco laughed. "You know that no-one likes a show-off, right?" she said to him.

He tossed the baton back to her.

And he hadn't even smiled.

The troublesome liquid in Ruby's tummy went churn, churn, churn. She wondered if she was going to be sick.

"Er, um, I, hmm ... er ... " she said.

"Uh-huh," said Coco.

Weiss appeared next to them. She knew Coco, apparently.

"Weiss!" said Ruby. "It's so good to see you!"

"You saw me ten minutes ago," said Weiss.

"Yes, but it's ... so good to see you ... again!" Ruby looked at Coco. "Weiss is my BFF," she said.

"No I'm not," said Weiss. "Is there something you need help with, Ruby? Like, staying upright?"

"I want to practice flips with you," said Ruby. "If you'll show me."

"Hmm, well, okay," said Weiss. "We can start with something easy. Like this." She did a backward somersault on her hands, turning it into a mid-air swivel so she landed facing them. "Try it," she said.

"This I have to see," said Coco.

Ruby gulped. Then she tried it. She almost got the flip part right, but on the swivel she got caught up in her cape. She crashed to the ground. Again.

"You know, you don't have to wear that thing all the time," said Coco, helping her up.

"Of course I do," said Ruby. She looked around. The big guy, Yatsu, had gone from his position on the bar. Desperately, Ruby looked around for him. Nowhere to be seen.

"Ah," said Coco.

"Ruby, maybe you're not cut out for flip training," said Weiss. "Perhaps you should get Blake to show you some agility moves."

"Yeah, that would be good," said Ruby.

Blake suddenly appeared, hanging upside-down from a rope. "Forget it," she said. Then she swung away.

"Nice talking to you!" Ruby called after her. She looked around for Weiss. But her bestie had also vanished.

Ruby sighed.

"Well, at least you have a very nice weapon," said Coco.

"I know," said Ruby. "And to tell the truth, it's all I really need. Hey, did you know that I can turn into a red vortex thingy?"

Coco gave a little laugh. "Sounds useful. Well, I'd better go and make sure that my team-mates are not slacking off more than usual," she said. She turned to leave. "By the way, his name is Yatsuhashi Daichi. Of Team Coffee." Then she was gone.

Ruby sighed again – a different sort of sigh. "Yatsuhashi Daichi," she said to herself. "Of Team Coffee."

END


End file.
